


Just Maybe If…

by mortenavida



Series: MCU Kink Bingo 2018 [8]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, F/M, Mind Manipulation, What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-12
Updated: 2018-08-12
Packaged: 2019-06-26 10:34:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15661473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mortenavida/pseuds/mortenavida
Summary: Wanda’s mind trick ruined Bruce more than he cared to admit, and all he could think about after was Betty.





	Just Maybe If…

**Author's Note:**

> Written for MCU Kink Bingo square: Betty Ross/Bruce Banner

It would have started at the lab, all those years ago. Betty would have begged him not to test himself with the serum, and Bruce would have listened. He would have ignored everything her father said about him and put the needle down. Bruce would have pulled Betty against him and apologized for scaring both of them.

Bruce would have done more research, more testing on rats and eventually monkeys. He would have almost pulled out his hair in frustration as he came across yet another failure. Betty would have brought him tea and a kiss, calming him more than she ever knew. They would then retire to their shared bedroom and find better ways to spend their evening.

A year after putting the soldier serum to the side, Betty would be walking down the aisle of a church, her white dress and breathtaking smile coming toward Bruce as he stood at the altar. She would have convinced her father to suck up his pride and escort her to Bruce. And while General Ross would complain about it, Bruce would see the teary haze in his eyes.

They would welcome little Angela into their lives a few years later. Not planned, but very much welcome. Bruce would take to teaching ungrateful college students, watching as a few of them decided to try and create their own version of the serum before giving up and choosing a different senior thesis.

Together, Betty and Bruce would watch, horrified, as New York was invaded by aliens. The Avengers would defeat them, surely, but only just because Tony Stark flew a nuke into the portal. He would ignore that Captain America was back, ignore when Betty asked if he wanted to meet the legend.

It would be too much temptation because that research was supposed to be buried. Angela was growing and Bruce would suspect Betty to be pregnant again - they wouldn’t need him running off to chase past ghosts.

So he would refuse, and he would instead go back to work as soon as the school was cleared. But he would watch, make sure he kept up on the news if Captain America was involved. If he had an alert to let him know, Betty wouldn’t mention it.

He and Betty would be happy, raising their eventual four children together until they grew old and Betty would pass from a disease. Then Bruce would move in with Angela, who became a doctor, and let her care for him when he couldn’t move. He would pass peacefully with his family around him, knowing that he had a full life filled with love.

And that would be Bruce’s life. Just maybe if…

But it wasn’t.

And as Bruce pulled a blanket further across his shoulders, music blaring in his ears to drown out the screams of Johannesburg, he couldn’t help but think of Betty and the life that could have happened. No Hulk, no keeping his anger -Hulk’s anger- in check, and no worrying about a destroyed city. No worrying about the screams of the innocent as he and the Hulkbuster dueled it out.

Natasha knelt in front of him and Bruce focused on her face, her sympathetic, but frightened look. He knew she was still scared of him, and he knew she was just pretending to want him, but Bruce was almost desperate.

He pulled off his headphones. “How many?”

“You know not to ask that,” she said softly. “We’re going to a safe house.”

Bruce watched her for a moment before putting the headphones back on. A safe house.”

He closed his eyes, thinking of Betty and their stolen future.


End file.
